An All Progressives Congress, APC, Chieftain in Edo State, Charles Idahosa, has described leaders of the party saying President Muhammadu Buhari will run for a second term in 2019 instead of praying for his health as “sycophants.”

Speaking with newsmen yesterday in Benin City, the state capital, Idahosa, a founding member of the party in the state, also stressed that the lingering crisis between the National Assembly and the Presidency was as a result of the failed leadership in the APC.

He said, “It is a shame that they are saying this despite the President’s state of health. I expected these leaders to advise the President to go and get medical attention while they find solution to the problems in the APC.

“We have a President who is sick, which of course is normal because anybody can be sick. But for them to say that he will run for 2019 when he is yet to complete two years in office, is unfortunate.”

”I feel worried and I fear for the APC. I thought the party would take advantage of the confusion in the main opposition party, that is the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, but from all indications, the APC is having problems just the same way PDP is having problems.

“The way some top leaders and those powerful people at the national level are talking, it frightens me and I fear for Nigeria.

“I feel sorry for President Buhari because I can conclude, without any fear of contradiction, that he is surrounded by sycophants and people that are just ready to tell him what he wants to hear. Nobody is telling him the truth and the country is drifting.

“I fear that we are going back to 2010 over the issue of his health and what happened to Yar’Adua, a situation where top members of the party and some persons in government will be talking about a president running for a second term when we are all aware that the man needs to take care of his health. It has nothing to do Buhari, anybody can fall sick at any time.

“I am not happy at the way things are going at the national level and the feud between the National Assembly and the Presidency might lead us to where we started from. We might just erode the gains since 1999 if we are not careful. I am using this opportunity to call on those at the tope to forget about their self-interest and save the party.

“If you look at these whole thing, the National Assembly, the Presidency, the confusion in the hierarchy of the party over to run or not to run, we shouldn’t be talking about that, we should be talking about the welfare of the president because when the president is not well, Nigeria is not well. It is because the party is not in control of its members in the National Assembly.”